WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - The Democrats’ historic boundary breakers are joining forces at the party’s national convention in an urgent effort to rouse the diverse coalition Joe Biden will need to defeat President Donald Trump this fall.
Their overriding message: Vote this time; don't just complain later. Your lives and democracy itself may be at stake.
Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, and Hillary Clinton, the first woman nominated for president by a major party, are speaking on Biden’s behalf Wednesday night. And Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate and the first Black woman on a major party ticket, is delivering highly anticipated remarks that will serve as her first introduction to millions of voters.
RELATED: In Obama, Democrats see a bridge between Joe Biden and young voters
American democracy might not survive another four years of Trump, Obama warns in excerpts released in advance. He urges voters to "embrace your own responsibility as citizens – to make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure. Because that’s what is at stake right now. Our democracy.”
In remarks remarkable for their dismissiveness of a U.S. president by his predecessor, Obama declares, "Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t.”
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Jill Biden speaks at 2020 DNC
Jill Biden offered a personal glimpse into her family’s struggles and vouched for her husband’s ability to lead the nation through adversity during remarks at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night.
Just 76 days before the election, voters in both parties are as engaged as they have ever been, even while battling the coronavirus pandemic that has left more than 172,000 dead and millions more out of work. Having formally been nominated by their party, the Biden-Harris ticket is now the Democrats' best and only hope to deny Trump a second term.
The pandemic has forced Biden's team to abandon the traditional convention format in favor of an all-virtual affair that has eliminated much of the pomp and circumstance that typically defines political conventions. It's also produced opportunities to create new traditions, including a roll call vote for Biden's formal nomination featuring a video montage of activists in every state in the nation.
The Democratic convention will build to a finale Thursday night when Biden will deliver his acceptance speech in a mostly empty convention hall near his Delaware home.
Next week it's Trump's turn.
RELATED: Jill Biden shares family struggles as she vouches for husband's ability to lead nation
The president, who abandoned plans to host his convention in North Carolina and Florida, is expected to break tradition and accept his nomination from the White House lawn.
Trump spent much of this week hosting campaign events in battleground states in an attempt to distract from the Democrats' virtual festivities. While he did not travel on Wednesday, the Republican president railed against Biden and his party at a press conference while praising a conspiracy theory group that claims Trump's opponents have links to satanism and child sex trafficking.
“We’re saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country,” Trump said. "And when this country is gone, the rest of the world would follow.”
Hyperbole and praise for far-right extremists has become a hallmark of Trump’s presidency, which has inflamed tensions at home and alienated allies around the world.
Harris, in her prepared remarks, said the nation is at a critical point,struggling under Trump's “chaos,” “incompetence”and "callousness."
“We can do better and deserve so much more," Harris says. “We must elect a president who will bring something different, something better, and do the important work. A president who will bring all of us together — Black, White, Latino, Asian, Indigenous — to achieve the future we collectively want.”
Clinton, four years after her own nominating convention, looked back at her 2016 loss to Trump and saids that by now it must be clear that American lives and livelihoods are at risk.
“For four years, people have said to me, ‘I didn’t realize how dangerous he was.’ ‘I wish I could go back and do it over.’ Or worst, ‘I should have voted,’” she said. “Well, this can’t be another woulda coulda shoulda election.”
Obama, who remains perhaps the biggest star in the Democratic Party, was delivering a live address ahead of Harris, from the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.
He hopes to serve as a bridge between those reassured by Biden’s lengthy resume and more moderate record, and a younger generation of Democrats agitating for more dramatic change.
Obama confidants say that the former president’s support for Biden is unequivocal, but he does worry about enthusiasm among younger voters, particularly younger voters of color. Democrats concede that one of the reasons Trump won the presidency in 2016 was because those voters didn't show up in the same large numbers as when Obama was on the ballot.
In excerpts of his remarks, Obama calls Biden his “brother.” He also savages the Trump presidency in a rare public rebuke from one president to his successor.
“I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president," Obama says. “I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.”
Beyond the carefully scripted confines of the virtual convention, there were modest signs of tension between the moderate and progressive wings of Biden’s Democratic Party.
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In particular, some progressives complained that pro-Biden Republicans such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich have been featured more prominently than the party’s younger progressive stars like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Climate activists also complained that the party appeared ready to drop a provision in the platform that calls for an end to fossil fuel industry subsidies and tax breaks.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of progressives for demanding bold change, was expected to speak Wednesday night, but only for a few minutes.
It remains to be seen whether the unconventional convention will give Biden the momentum he’s looking for.
Preliminary estimates show that television viewership for the first night of the virtual convention was down compared with the opening of Hillary Clinton’s onsite nominating party four years ago.
AOC addresses social issues in DNC speech
AOC used her DNC speech to address social issues before nominating progressive Bernie Sanders.
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